The Ohio State Buckeyes this season have taken care of business week after week.

After 11 games in 13 weeks, the program stand at the top of the college football landscape with a perfect 11-0 record without having been challenged since August.

Now, after head coach Ryan Day and his squad wrapped up all of the other opponents on their schedule, the program will finally look ahead to their next opportunity in their hated rival from the North.

The rivalry has been incredibly well documented, and the last four years have been all bad for the Buckeyes.

In 2021 and 2022, the games are marred by the cheating scandal, while 2023 was a thorough beating at the hands of the Wolverines. This was followed by the biggest upset in College Football in 2024.

However, this year's version has a new wrinkle in it.

Day is filled with the utmost confidence in himself and his team after their run to the National Championship in 2024 and following that up with a perfect 2025 regular season. This year's team has only shown an ounce of weakness in the last six quarters of football.

But unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the No. 1 team in the nation is clearly a different football team without the program's star wide receiver duo of Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith in the lineup. 

When the Buckeyes are full strength, they are head and shoulders ahead of every other team in the country. This week, that fact is already reflected in the opening spread, which the Buckeyes are 12.5-point favorites over the hated rivals.

That number will fluctuate significantly based on the status of the Buckeyes' two wide receivers, who will have a major impact on the outcome of the game. 

For Ohio State, the approach this year is different. Day has stated many times that he wants Michigan Week to feel just like any other week throughout the year. He recognized that he may have been putting too much emphasis on the outcome of this game, and he is going to take a different approach in 2025.

It's clear that the Buckeyes want this opportunity in a bad way. There was a tangible tension in the air that I described as those guys feeling like caged animals on the Michigan topic. And now, they are finally released to talk about it. They have taken care of their business up until this point and now it is time to take care of business against them.

It's been all Michigan in this rivalry in recent history, but this group of Buckeyes is ready to put an end to it.

The week is here. It is finally time for The Game.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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